Rijeka in the running to be European Capital of Culture 2020.
Rijeka, Dubrovnik, Pula and Osijek are four Croatian cities which have entered the second round of nominations for the European Capital of Culture in 2020. Since these cities must submit their improved application forms by February, Rijeka has brought together a team that will work on the preparations for the final phase of its candidacy and on improving the quality of the application documentation, with particular emphasis on the development of strategies and programs, reports Novi List on September 18, 2015.
Under the guidance of the head of the Department of Culture of the City of Rijeka Ivan Šarar, the team includes Slaven Tolj, the director of MMSU Rijeka, Irena Kregar Šegota, adviser for international cooperation at the Department of Culture of the City of Rijeka, Valerij Jurešić, head of the County Department for Culture, Sports and Technical Culture, and Tanja Kalčić as the coordinator for the independent culture sector.
One of the members of the team is Chris Torch, the program director. Torch is the founder of Intercult, an independent unit for the production and support to local and international cultural activities in Stockholm. He was a part of the team that secured the title of European Capital of Culture in 2019 to the Italian town of Matera. He has been cooperating with Rijeka with SEAS and CORNERS projects since 2005 and is well acquainted with the arts scene in Rijeka, with whom he had a chance to work together. He is also a co-creator of the program of lifelong learning Unicult2020.
According to a statement from the City of Rijeka, the backbone of the second round of the Rijeka candidacy is based on the development of the cultural program strategy, the inclusion of local artists and organizations in the candidacy, the development of infrastructure capacity and promoting economic recovery through the cultural tourism and creative industries.
